I'm Still TiredJanuary 9, 2008
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!
2008 is just 2007 with a fresher wrapper. I swear to Vacuous Space. I got a LOT of packages back with "no such
address" stamped on them so tomorrow, so if you bought something in the last two months and didn't get it - drop me
an email if I've not contacted you by Friday (although quite a few of the packages, especially internationals, say
simply NO ATTEMPT MADE. I love that. It's the postal service admitting they took your money and didn't fucking try.
AWESOME).
I have a con on February 22-24 at Vassar - yup, goin' back to Noncon.
Apparently, I'm not the only one. Jeph Jacques of Questionable Content
will be there, as will webcomics crossover hit R. Stevens of Diesel
Sweeties, Jon Rosenberg of Goats, Meredith Gran of Octopus Pie (and others), and Scott Cloud of Boy on a Stick and Slither. So, basically, if you
like webcomics you should get to Vassar in New York.
Soooo - Ohayocon.
It's a well run, FUN convention. Let me start off by apologizing for people who were looking for me at my artists'
alley table Friday and early Saturday. I'd been told I wasn't going to have a table, so I didn't know I had a place
to sit and draw (if I had, I'd have brought merch to sell). And to the people who were looking for me Sunday morning
- again, sorry. I was sleepin' something fierce off.
But as I was saying, Ohayocon was fun but I pretty much expected it to be. Aside from my ever-lovely Monkeybutter being there, I got to see friends like Bruce and Mundy Lewis, Chris Bevins, Robert and Emily DeJesus, and Greg
Ayres (aka the reason I made "that" Bee shirt, which is comin' back this March). I also finally got to meet
people I've heard a lot about, like Chris Ayres, Jan Scott Frazier, Tiffany Grant (actually I've met both Jan and Tiffany
before, but this con I actually got to talk to them), the ever beautiful Monica
Rial, the ever tiny Brittney Karbowski (seriously,
someone's going to slip her in their pocket and we'll never hear from her again - I'm very worried about this), and
the amazing Tavisha and Rikki Simons.
Friday I was on Greg Ayre's roast. This was surprising to me as no one told me, so I had to pretty much wing it.
I'm told there are recordings of this roast and I greatly hope they show up on YouTube, if only so everyone can see
the precise moment I made a room full of anime fans very, very unhappy with me... and so you can see Robert
DeJesus lick my nipple. It was a lot of fun telling inappropriate stories - because, y'know, that's not what I do
every other day.
I got to do a lot of drawings for a lot of people and that was pretty awesome. Seriously, though - and some of you
don't seem to believe this - the free fast sketches at cons are free. Most of you seem suspicious when I
offer them. If you WANT a commission, I sell those, too (head on over to
the store right now, in fact, and order one). But a fast, less than a minute sketch? I'm a dick, but I'm not
that bad.
I got to meet a lot of great readers and see old friends. It was great finally meeting Chris Ayres, a person I've
heard a lot about. He's a very friendly and genuine person, just like his baby brother, and if you're into anime
you should really try to meet them. They always do their best to spend time with every single one of their fans.
It's insane and impressive.
The same with Rikki and Tavi Simons. They have so many stories, it's impossible not to just get lost in conversation
with them. Rikki is one of the most polite, intelligent and approachable artists I've met. Tavi is pretty much
walking giddiness and can draw better than most people will dream of. I really hope I'm at more conventions with
them because I just loved being around them (plus it's
funny to see some of Rikki's fans, who freak out over him being the voice of Gir from Invader Zim). I could listen
to these two talk for hours.
And while I'm thinking of it, both Emily DeJesus and Jan Scott Frazier work themselves to the bones at cons.
Seriously, they were nonstop in-motion. How they find the time to do all this and still always wear a smile and
treat people so kindly I don't know.
I realize I'm not giving much of a play-by-play, but it would be pretty hard to - especially for Saturday night, when
we went to Elevator with some of the other guests (whose names, sadly,
I didn't get except for Johnny Yong Bosch - voice actor, retired Power Ranger,
and all around good guy. There was much drinking - probably too much on my part (it did not match an my worst
incident from last year so I feel good about myself) and got to talk theatre with their bartender on duty, an awesome
woman named Kiele, who also dances for Snap Performance
Productions, a theatre nonprofit. It was nice to have someone who knows what doing theatre for children is like
and to be able to compare stories. If you're in or near Columbus, try to go see one of their shows if you can.
Local theatre is always worth the time.
Sunday was, like most con Sundays, a little sad (if the con's a good con, the last day SHOULD be a sad day).
Watching people pack up to leave is always kind of a a letdown. Hilary (Impy) of Errant Story dropped by to visit and we got to hang out with Spike of the
award winning Templar, AZ, Dirk I. Tiede of Paradigm Shift (and other comics), Jen Brazas of Mystic Revolution (hope you liked the cock tree), and Brion Foulke of Flipside. Later that night I hung out with the crew from Otakubooty thanks to their lovely admin, Caitlin.
And then Monday we were dropped off at the airport - and everything went fucking wrong after that. I'm not going
into that, though.
Just two more things: first, thanks again to everyone who came to a panel, stopped by to say hello, or just sent an
email to say hi since they couldn't make it. I do appreciate it. To reader Emily who left a note on my table:
please email me. I'm very sorry I missed you. -R